Thaindian News

Greater Noida, July 28 (IANS) Responding to Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) CEO Rama Raman’s offer for an amicable solution of the land acquisition row, heads of several villages in this Uttar Pradesh district Thursday demanded an enhanced compensation of at least Rs.2,000 per square metre for their lands.

“The farmers are not ready to accept any compensation below Rs.2,000 per square metre,” said Sadullapur village head Ranvir Nagar.

“We are the sufferers from all sides, so we the villagers of Sadullapur, Milak Lachhi, Patwari, Rosa, Bisrakh and Vaidpura have decided to file a petition before the Supreme Court,” Nagar said.

“The contents of the petition would be revealed to the media after it is filed,” he said.

“Our livelihood is being sacrificed. We have to see the future of our children, so we will fight against any arbitrarily imposed harsh rule of the state,” he said.

The Allahabad High Court Tuesday referred the Noida Extension land acquisition issue to a larger bench and gave the Uttar Pradesh government and the agitating farmers 17 days to try and negotiate an out-of-court settlement.

The court order came over about 250 petitions that were clubbed as they involved hundreds of farmers spread across 10 villages where some 3,000 hectares of land was acquired by the GNIDA.

Resh Pal Yadav, head of Patwari village, said: “We have received the invitation letter from CEO of Greater Noida for talks, but we doubt any solution would be found amicably. The officials’ hands are tied with laws and our hands are tied with the duty to feed our children.”

The authority earlier said that the global economic recession forced it to convert the acquired land’s use from industrial to residential and sell it to realtors.

Greater Noida consists 23 percent residential, 5.6 percent commercial, 16.2 percent institutional, 23.2 green areas, 19.6 percent industrial, 12.1 transportation and 0.2 percent special economic zones, the GNIDA chief said, adding that in Shaberi, the authority had increased some proportion of residential land because of “certain market compulsions”.

Revealing the strategy of the authority to reach some understanding with the farmers, the CEO said he was confident that the farmers would understand the authority’s compulsions and the heavy expenditure it incurred in the land acquisition process.